BEWARE Tory deception on welfare spending As a UK taxpayer, I have recently received a letter from HMRC summarising my taxable income and tax deducted.
On the reverse is a pie-chart showing how income tax and National Insurance contributions were spent in 2013-14.
Almost a fifth is devoted to health, 13 per cent to education, seven per cent on national debt interest, a mere one per cent on overseas aid and just 0.7 per cent on the UK contribution to the EU budget.
The largest, at 24.5 per cent, is spent on the vaguely-termed “welfare”.
Personally, I have no problem with a quarter of my contribution being spent on such an item.
It is, however, potentially misleading and deserves further examination.
What the Treasury calls “welfare” covers items as diverse as nurses’ and soldiers’ pensions, children in care, nursing homes and child benefit. Financial support for unemployed people is only five per cent.
As the phrase often attributed to Benjamin Disraeli goes: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.”
I cannot help but think that this exercise in conveying information is intended to mislead voters, to obfuscate, not illuminate.
Ginnie Shaw, Prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Green Party for York Outer, Derwent Mews, Osbaldwick, York.
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